Enteral feeding developed from a need to maintain a sufficient caloric diet in a patient who might otherwise not digest enough calories by oral intake. The medical reasons for enteral feeding are numerous and relatively varied. Certain patients temporarily lose the ability to chew, such as for example, if the patient is comatose, in a prolonged unconscious state following surgery, or has suffered a jaw or throat injury. Other patients may lose the ability to swallow as a result of declining health from degenerative disorders of the muscle or nervous system, such as Parkinson's or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In patients presenting with these or other conditions, a physician or care provider may elect to provide a diet by enteral feeding. The enteral feeding is often temporary until recovery, or until other feeding methods are initiated, such as for example, by percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (a PEG tube).
Conventional enteral feeding involves the delivery of a liquid nutrition (e.g., a nutritional formula) through the oral tract into the digestive system. Using gravity or a pumping device, the liquid nutrition is delivered to the stomach from a container. Specifically, the liquid nutrition travels through a tube which has been intubated into the oral tract, usually through the nose. A physician may choose liquid nutrition specific to the patient from many commercially available nutritional formulas.
One type of liquid nutrition container used in the industry is a ready-to-hang plastic bottle. The bottle may include a mouth covered by a hermetic seal and a neck which is male threaded. In many enteral feeding systems, a removable cap is attached to the neck of the bottle. To initiate flow of the nutrition, the seal is removed by a caregiver, mechanically broken or otherwise compromised. The tube connecting the container to the patient has a proximal end, relative the caregiver, which may include a connector or otherwise have structure adapted for connection to the cap.